Comfort Flow Heating Blog:Archive for March, 2015

Ductwork is one of the most important, and most neglected, parts of you HVAC system. You home’s ducts are responsible for making centralized forced air heating and cooling possible in the first place. Despite their importance, however, ducts are often completely ignored when it comes to required maintenance. This is unfortunate, as keeping your ducts in good condition can actually save you quite a bit of money on your heating and electric bills. Want to know how? Read on to find out.

Common Duct Issues

Ducts have a couple of different issues with which they’re commonly afflicted. Dust, debris, moisture, and rust are all issues that affect the quality of your ducts. The biggest issue by far, however, is duct leaks. Ducts are actually quite vulnerable to leaks, despite their relatively passive role in heating and air conditioning. Improper installation often leaves gaps between the different sections of ductwork. Moisture or animal activity can create small holes through which air can escape. Even expanding and contracting from regular use can result in sections of the ductwork working themselves loose.

So, what’s the big deal? A few small leaks here and there hardly constitute an emergency, right? Actually, the US Department of Energy has estimated that the average forced air system loses as much as 30% of its output to duct leaks. That’s almost a third of your heating and air conditioning output that you’re still paying for, but which is lost before it ever reaches its destination. That loss forces your systems to stay on longer to accomplish the same temperatures, which contributes to a significant rise in your heating and electric bills.

How Duct Sealing can Help

Duct sealing is the process of finding and closing any leaks that may be present in your ductwork. By having an experienced professional seal your ducts for you, you’re drastically improving the efficiency of your heater and air conditioner. This is how you can substantially lower your heating and electric bills. If you haven’t had your ducts sealed in the past year or two, call Comfort Flow Heating. We provide duct sealing services throughout Salem, OR.

Water heaters are pretty robust systems, and not prone to frequent breakdowns. However, that does not mean that they are immune from all problems and repair needs. Water heaters are vulnerable to a number of different problems, each capable of inflicting various levels of damage. Let’s take a look at some of the common causes of water heater repair, and how you can prevent them.

Rust

Any system that regularly deals with water is going to risk oxidization. That is especially true for water heaters, which are often exposed to water 24/7. Rust can cause various parts of the water heater to fail, and can even cause the tank to rupture. Tankless water heaters do not store water, so their risk of rust is slightly lessened. For tank water heaters, however, slightly stronger countermeasures are required.

Tank water heaters are equipped with devices called “sacrificial anode rods.” These are long, metal rods that are inserted into the tank, and protect the lining of the tank by rusting away themselves. Once the anode rods are completely degraded, however, the tank lining will once again be vulnerable to rust. The best way to stop this from happening is by checking your anode rod at least once a year, and replacing it if necessary. If you don’t know how to check your anode rod, call a professional to help you.

Uneven Heat

If you have a lot of people using hot water at once in your house, it is very possible to simply exhaust the supply of hot water on hand. When that happens, you just have to wait for more. However, there is a difference between that and a water heater that is seemingly unable to provide consistently hot water regardless of the situation. If that is happening, you could have a number of different problems. An issue with the heater’s circulator pump could be preventing the hot water from reaching you. However, it is also possible that the heater itself is having trouble heating the water. That’s a more serious issue, and one that you’ll need a professional technician to diagnose. The best way to prevent these kinds of problems is simply to have your water heater inspected at least once a year by a professional.

Ducts are among the most unobtrusive parts of any HVAC system. They are simple, often quiet, and tend not to suffer the dramatic breakdowns common to the more main parts of heating and air conditioning systems. That being said, your ducts still serve a vital purpose. If not taken care of properly they can not only negatively affect your HVAC systems, but your own health as well. Let’s have a look at why duct cleaning is so important, and how often you should have it done.

Why Bother With Duct Cleaning?

Floating through the air you breathe, right this second, are millions upon millions of microscopic particles. Some of these particles are harmless. Some are lung irritants, like dust and pollen. If you’re an allergy sufferer, these can make your life pretty hellish in high amounts. Some are even infectious agents like viruses, bacteria, and mold spores. These are the worst, able to sicken those they infect and lowering their quality of life.

With all of these things present in every breath you take, you may wonder why you’re not sneezing and coughing constantly. The reason you’re not constantly sick or having allergy attacks is that the concentration of these particles is often pretty low. In most homes, while these contaminants are present, they often don’t have the numbers to really impact your immune system in a noticeable way. There is one big exception to this, however, and it has to do with your ducts.

Airborne contaminants have a tendency to collect in the ducts in your home, mainly because it’s dark and out of the way of most human activity. This makes it easy for these pollutants to settle down and thrive, away from any normal cleaning efforts you may attempt. Then, when you turn on your heater or air conditioner, all of those contaminants get blown around your house at once. This gives you a much higher dose of these contaminants than normal, increasing the chances of a severe reaction.

The Benefits of Duct Cleaning

Duct cleaning is used to remove this massive buildup of contaminants from your ducts, increasing your air quality and possibly improving your health. Though the buildup of contaminants in your ducts can be quite significant, it tends to happen slowly. For that reason, you shouldn’t need to have your ducts cleaned more than once every one or two years. The biggest danger is not having them cleaned at all. If you haven’t had your ducts cleaned in the past couple of years, call Comfort Flow Heating to schedule duct cleaning service with us in Salem, OR.

The parts of your water heater work together to heat up cool water from the pipes and return it to your plumbing system so that you have continued access to warm water for showering, cleaning, laundry, and more. But one part of your water heater does not really participate in this process at all. The sacrificial anode rod does not help to heat up water, nor does it serve any electro-mechanical purpose. But the anode rod still serves as the hero of the storage tank water heater, essentially sacrificing itself for the good of the tank.

Be sure to service your water heater in Creswell regularly with the help of the friendly technicians at Comfort Flow Heating. We can replace the sacrificial anode rod if necessary and make other vital adjustments in order to keep your system in the best shape possible.

The Anode Rod and Rust Prevention

When you turn on the hot water in your home and notice a reddish-brown color or flakes of rust, you may assume the worst. Rust indicates that your unit has begun to corrode. And once corrosion begins, there’s not much of a chance of saving the tank. A leaking tank could really mess up your home and potentially result in costly renovations, so replacement is often necessary at the first sign of corrosion.

Luckily, rusty water may not always be indicative of a rusted tank. It may just be that the anode rod has rusted through, a part that is simple for a trained technician to replace. In fact, the anode rod is meant to rust—the sole purpose for its presence in the tank.

The anode rod is typically made from aluminum or magnesium. Because these metals are more corrosive than iron, any corrosion should divert to the anode rod before it begins to affect your tank. However, it is possible that the anode rod can corrode so far that rust begins to develop on the tank itself. Prevent this from occurring by scheduling regular water heater maintenance.